A Slowdown in the Fast Lanes

Local Traffic Clogs Md., Va. Interstates Far From D.C.

Paul Stilp used to have the nicest Sunday drives on his way home from family visits in Pennsylvania. Those ended when he started running into unexplainable miles-long traffic jams west of Frederick on Interstate 70.

Stilp also used to have an easy-as-can-be drive to his second home on Virginia's Northern Neck. But then he started hitting miles-long traffic jams on Interstate 95 around Fredericksburg.

The constant jams were mystifying. No accidents to be seen, no construction, no merges, no sharp turns or other noticeable explanations.

"You can run into it just for no reason," said Stilp, who lives in Alexandria. Traffic has been backing up around Frederick "the last four or five years, and it just gets steadily worse," he said. "I think it's just local traffic. And it's the same with Fredericksburg. There's just not enough ways around Fredericksburg for local people to get around without getting on the highway."

Stilp's hunch is dead-on, according to traffic experts, who said that drivers in the booming areas at the fringes of the Washington suburbs have turned what are meant to be long-distance freeways into their main streets as they look for ways around overwhelmed local roads.

A generation ago, interstate traffic would slow to a notable degree mainly around major cities. But now, regular jams are appearing all along interstates, especially on the East Coast, largely because of traffic surrounding such growing suburbs as Frederick and Fredericksburg.

Around those communities, I-70 and I-95 are overwhelmed, particularly on weekends, when tens of thousands of locals, heading out to shop or take in a movie or a meal, join the usual weekend traffic on the highways.

"One of the things that has happened, particularly in those two areas, is that they're not well served by major arterials that are not interstates," said Alan E. Pisarski of Falls Church, author of "Commuting in America." Interstates were "never conceived of being designed to serve [as] commuter roads. In effect, what's happening here is that different sets of purposes are conflicting with each other."

That's a pain for the everyday driver and a threat to the movement of goods, Pisarski said.

"There's a lack of reliability in the system and a lack of redundancy in the system," he said. "More and more, it's a clear threat to interstate commerce. I think it's very real."

The recent stories of Frederick and Fredericksburg are as similar as their names: They are both former small towns distinct from the Washington region that have turned into booming mini-cities, surrounded by even faster-growing suburbs.

As recently as a decade ago, they were the kind of place Washingtonians might wander into for a dose of Americana and Civil War history on the way back from the beach or the mountains. Both still maintain plenty of their days-gone-by charm, but they also have added shopping centers, entertainment venues and other attractions that are the staples of a commuter culture.